The July Brent futures flat price has experienced a morning of mixed price action. From a level of around $83.50/bbl at 06:00 BST, the price edged slowly down to its daily low of just over $83/bbl at 09:30 BST. Subsequently, it has regained most of these losses, and currently sits in $83.40/bbl handles as of 11:35 BST (time of writing). OPEC has left its global oil supply and demand forecasts for 2024-25 unchanged in its latest Monthly Oil Market Report, with demand projected to rise 2.25mbbls/d to 104.5mbbls/d in 2024 and by a further 1.85mbbls/d to 106.3mbbls/d in 2025. Furthermore, the oil-producing group forecasts 2024 global economic growth to be 2.8%. The EU has suspended sanctions on the head of Venezuela’s election authority and three former officials in a move intended to encourage a free and fair presidential vote in July. Brazil’s state-run Petrobras has curbed its currently politically fraught dividend payments, approving $2.6 billion in dividends for Q1 of 2024, 38% less than Q4 of 2023 and much lower than analysts’ predictions of $3.2 billion. Finally, Kuwait has renewed its current 300kbbls/d oil supply contract with China’s Unipec until 2033. The front and 6-month spreads are $0.47/bbl and $3.17/bbl, respectively.
